Finding Unauthorized Faith…

Kara: I’m not going back to the DEO, Alex. I can’t.

Alex: Kara, Hank was only doing his duty. Okay? Protecting the planet. Just like you do, every day.

Kara: I don’t kill.

Alex: But soldiers do, when they have to.And Hank had to.

Kara: I had the chance to bring Astra back into the light. And Hank cheated her and me out of that chance. I know I should be better than this, but I don’t think I can forgive him for that. I love working with you But maybe it’s time for me to be my own Supergirl.

In episode 15 of Supergirl, along with making an amazing reference to Harry Potter, Kara said something that brought up a question I sometimes ponder: When is it, if ever, acceptable to take a life?

Kara has a great point. If we take lives of those who are “bad,” we rob them and those they love from ever bringing them back to the light. We rob them of the chance at redemption. Which, to me, means that taking a life is never anything to celebrate—even when necessary. The loss of a life that is still in darkness is a sad, sad thing.

However, Alex also makes an excellent point at the end of this episode (Spoiler Alert)…

Alex: I saw Astra – standing over J’onn.

Kara: – What?

Hank: Alex.

Alex: (SOFTLY) He was defenseless. She said she was gonna give him an honorable death. And I reacted. Because that’s what I was taught to do. – Hank didn’t kill Astra. – (SOBBING) (SOFTLY) I did. I did. And when you got there, he saw how devastated you were. He didn’t want you to get angry with me. He took the blame. (VOICE BREAKING) And I let him. Because I was afraid of losing you, and I can’t lose you. (ALEX SOBBING)

Sometimes, not taking one life costs another. Sometimes to save someone, we have to do something horrific. Something that is never to be celebrated and is to be avoided if at all possible. A decision soldiers face every day on the front lines—kill or watch their friends, families, and even nations be killed.

What does the Bible have to say about this? A lot. One of the commandments is not to murder. But murder is intentional killing for vengeance or greed or some other evil. Killing to protect someone is entirely different. It is killing to save a life that is about to be taken. Still, there are consequences. King David was described as a man after God’s own heart, but because he was a man of war and shed much blood he was unfit to carry out his dream of building the Temple.

Life, all life, is precious and should be treated with great respect. Not because the person is good, but because God made them and loves them.